The head coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Jose Peseiro has revealed that he couldn’t invite Victor Boniface, Gift Orban, and Chuba Akpom for the 2023 AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone due to the limitation on the number of foreign players he is permitted to invite and “issues with bureaucracy”.
Ahead of the AFCON qualifier against Sierra Leone in Liberia which is scheduled to kick off at 5 PM WAT on Sunday, June 18, most Super Eagles fans expected the in-form strikers to be invited to the squad.
However, when the Nigeria Football Federation announced Jose Peseiro’s 23-man team for the qualifier, Orban, Boniface, and Akpom were missing from the list for no known reason.
Interestingly, coach Peseiro decided to invite four domestic players which the coach selected from the just concluded Nigeria Professional Football League Super 6 playoffs in Lagos.
During his media chat at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos after his team’s first training on Monday, the Super Eagles coach told reporters that he had to exclude the trio from the squad because he is permitted to invite just 19 foreign-based players for the qualifier.
He said, “I have visited Orban and Boniface in Belgium but I can only invite 19 foreign players. I wish I could have more so I can call them but I also have to consider the situation of the NFF. There will be time for them and the rest of the team here can also do well.
“For Akpom, he can’t be here due to some issues with bureaucracy”.
